London Fashion Week: FOUR PAWS protests against the use of fur by Burberry

London, February 17th 2014. The launch of the new winter collection by traditional British company Burberry is one of the highlights of London Fashion Week. Advocates from the international animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS took the opportunity to protest against the further utilisation of fur in front of the entrance of the Burberry marque.

Last week, FOUR PAWS published disturbing footage of Finnish fur farms which belong to the fur auction house that supplies Burberry (Saga Furs). The pictures show the shocking reality of conditions on these farms. Foxes with missing tails in small mesh wire cages, piles of stinking excrement, conditions which fall even below the claimed minimum standards of the fur industry. Since the publication of the video 23,500 people have already called on Burberry to withdraw their use of fur on the FOUR PAWS protest website www.befurfree.org.

Thomas Pietsch, wild animal expert at FOUR PAWS said: “About 100 million minks, foxes and racoon dogs die for the fashion industry every year worldwide. The latest footage of the Finnish farms shows: Fur produced in accordance with animal welfare does simply not exist.”

If Burberry remains true to its word, making fur redundant in its collection is vital

In reaction to the protest mails, generated since the 11th of February, Burberry communicates the following “…we would like to express to you that Burberry will not use natural hides if there is any concern that they have been produced using unacceptable treatment of animals.… we source natural hides very carefully in our efforts to safeguard the correct ethical standards and traceability.”

This positioning of the company leads FOUR PAWS to ask for steps to be taken in response to the evidence. “If the company management sticks to its word, the only sincere consequence can be the immediate abandonment of real fur products. The cruel keeping conditions of the fur bearing animals on the Saga certified farms cannot be sugar-coated.”, says Thomas Pietsch from FOUR PAWS.

This year in January the fashion company was exposed to fierce protests of the environmental protection organisation Greenpeace, who found prove for toxic residues in childrenswear. The company relented and committed to shift to risk-free chemicals in the textile production until 2020. Now the company is under fire by animal welfare supporters from all sides.

FOUR PAWS has been campaigning for a legal ban of the keeping of fur bearing animals and a European law against the trading and import of fur and fur products for many years now. Last year the international animal welfare organisation started an online campaign against large fashion companies that sell real fur, which includes Burberry.

On the protest website of FOUR PAWS, www.befurfree.org, you can call on Burberry to quit using real fur.

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